


Cleaning Day

by marshie_marshmallow



Series: Weasley Home for Wayward Wixen [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hogwarts Mystery
Genre: Autistic Charlie Weasley - Freeform, Gen, genderfluid Rowan Khanna, he/him pronouns this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 04:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15811398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshie_marshmallow/pseuds/marshie_marshmallow
Summary: A week after Bill Weasley graduates from Hogwarts at eighteen years old, he returns to Ottery St. Catchpole for the first time since he was sixteen. Accompanying him is Charlie, now sixteen himself, and a handful of other fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds. They're carrying a lot of supplies for cleaning and impromptu house repair between them, being unsure what in the Burrow will still be good to use.





	Cleaning Day

A week after Bill Weasley graduates from Hogwarts at eighteen years old, he returns to Ottery St. Catchpole for the first time since he was sixteen. Accompanying him is Charlie, now sixteen himself, and a handful of other fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds. They're carrying a lot of supplies for cleaning and impromptu house repair between them, being unsure what in the Burrow will still be good to use.

“... This feels weird,” Charlie comments as they stand outside the strangely-built house. Even in the June heat, he's still dressed in heavy clothes while his brother and friends are dressed more appropriately for the weather. “Being here again, I mean.”

“I know what you mean,” Bill agrees, with a distant look in his eye.

The rest of the group stands awkwardly a few feet behind the brothers to let them have the moment to themselves. After a few minutes have passed, Rowan clears his throat and speaks. “So... we should probably go inside.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, right. Need to... do that.” Bill half-walks, half-shuffles to the front door and slowly opens it, a lump forming in his throat. He stands in the doorway for a moment before someone gently places their hand on his back and pushes him inside.

When the group is all standing awkwardly and a bit cramped in the dusty living room, Ben speaks up. “So, uh... How are we doing this?”

“Right, well...” Bill rubs his chin. “I guess we need to look to see what's still in the house and can be used... and clean out all the dust... Need to check out the sheds and see what are in those... I guess we'll need to clear out the garden if we're gonna use it.”

“... Sweet Merlin, the _gnomes_.” Charlie runs a hand over his face.

“Oh. The gnomes... Okay, let's just... sort this out. I guess split up?”

“I can handle the garden,” Tonks says. “Gnomes included.”

“I can help with that,” Tulip says, hand on Tonks' shoulder.

“Don't get too distracted making out,” Penny jokes.

“Oh, ha _ha_ ,” Tonks replies, but there's a blush on her face that makes it clear it might be a legitimate concern when the two are left alone together.

“I guess... I can search bedrooms?” Nora suggests.

“I'll work on the kitchen,” Penny volunteers.

One by one, the group splits off into various sections of the house and begins searching and cleaning.

* * *

 

“Is this a car?”

Charlie glances over Liz, who is clearly confused at the sight of the old Ford Anglia. “Yeah, it... it belonged to our dad. He liked to take apart Muggle stuff to see how it worked.”

“What are we gonna do with it?”

Charlie drummed his fingers against his leg. “I'm not... sure. It... it feels wrong to get rid of it, but it would be nice if we could use this shed for something.”

“Well, why don't we just fix the car?” Liz grins. “Might need to cast some spells. Make it run without a fuel source so it's not such a terror to the environment and you don't spend have to spend money on gasoline... but it'd be a useful thing to have around, I think.”

He thinks about it for a moment. “I suppose... Might need to ask Bill's opinion... and neither of us knows anything about cars...”

“Let's file the idea away for later. For now, let's check the other shed.”

* * *

 

Penny stares at the clock. Two hands are pointed to 'home', five sit at 'visiting' (she imagines they've been there for two years now), and the last two spin wildly, as if unable to locate the people they're meant to be tracking.

She bites her lip. _It's a useful bit of magic_ , she figures, _but the broken hands would likely need to be removed._

That's not a decision she's in a position to make, though, so she turns back to sorting kitchen supplies. Through the window, she can see Tulip and Tonks having some sort of gnome-throwing competition.

Even with everything they were able to earn between them over the past two summers and the wages Nora got from waiting tables at The Three Broomsticks on weekends, they didn't have much money saved up. Fred and George would be starting in the fall which meant supplies for two people.

 _They'll be able to share textbooks so long as they sit by each other... and I'm sure we can find enough old robes between all of us that will fit them well enough,_ she thinks as she taps a spoon against her chin. _One of them could take Mrs. Weasley's wand, I suppose..._

The logistics of a dozen or so teenagers raising five kids are complicated, it seems. Penny, who initially joined agreed to this because she didn't want Nora to do it by herself, has found herself deep in it.

It's hardly her fault, though. When she met their siblings, she had found herself wondering what would happen if it was just her and Beatrice. She hopes her friends would help if that happened.

She can't imagine what it must be like for the Weasleys.

 

* * *

Nora sorts through what clothes were left in closets when the younger siblings were being moved around. A good many of them are too small for even Ginny now, so they'll have to find something to do with those. Sell them to a second-hand robe shop, maybe, or perhaps Andre can take them apart and use the fabric for something.

She can hear Bill trying to stop Barnaby from fighting the ghoul upstairs as the two of them search the attic. Behind her, Rowan is sorting through other belongings that were left, including a fair few books. The idea of getting _rid_ of books is, of course, entirely foreign to him so the stack of books to keep is a good bit larger than it probably should be. Nora wonders if maybe she should make him switch jobs with her.

“Hey, Nora?” Rowan asks. “How far do you intend to go to help Bill and Charlie?”

She pauses in the middle of folding a shirt as she thinks. “... As far as I need to.”

“And you have no idea how far that might be?”

“No.”

Rowan moves up beside her, having abandoned his pile of books. “Sometimes it feels like you'd be willing to sacrifice your own happiness for their sake.”

“So are Bill and Charlie.”

“That's different. They have an obligation to do it, really.”

“And isn't that just unfair? Bill can't become a Curse-Breaker. Charlie can't go into dragonology or, hell, even play Quidditch professionally because they need to find _stable_ jobs here in England. Their tragedies don't end with their parents dying.”

“It's not _your_ obligation to give things up for _their_ family's sake, though.”

“I don't think I could live with myself if I wasn't ready to make sacrifices for my friends.”

“... Whatever you say.”

Nora drops the shirt and looks her best friend in the eye. “You don't want to help?”

“Of course I want to help! I just... don't want you to lose out on life. I don't want you to give up _your_ dreams when there's nothing saying you have to.”

“I won't, Rowan. It's not as if I really know what I plan to do, anyway... I was just gonna get my NEWTs and see where I can go from there. Maybe a Healer...”

Rowan smiles. “I think that would suit you.”

* * *

At around one pm, everyone stops what they were doing and gathers the old kitchen table. They had the foresight to bring a lunch along, so they talk about what they've found as Nora and Charlie pass out sandwiches.

“I think you should try to finish fixing the car,” Liz says. “It looked like your dad left a good number of notes and it would be useful to have around, if you ask me.”

Bill seems to consider it for a moment. “For what? We have the Floo.”

“Yeah, but the car doesn't go one person at a time. Besides, it'll be easier to carry stuff around in since you wouldn't have to physically carry it.”

“Seems like it would be a lot of work,” Penny adds.

“Well, we wouldn't have to do it right now. I'm just saying, it's something we should consider.”

As Nora and Charlie sit down with their own sandwiches (Nora with the same kind as the others have, while Charlie had made his own that morning due to his picky eating habits), the conversation shifts to other discoveries.

“I forgot how much stuff Mum had stored up in there in the attic,” Bill says. “I never went up there if I could avoid it cause I didn't wanna deal with the ghoul. We pulled out several boxes to sort through. Not sure what's in them, yet.”

“I made a pretty decent-sized pile of clothes that won't fit _anybody_ anymore,” Nora says. “Some of them are still in pretty good and could probably be sold to a secondhand shop. Others... have clearly been through a few different siblings. Rowan, how'd things go on the book sorting?”

Rowan darts his eyes away. “I... don't know why you'd want to get rid of any of the books... but I found baby books and outdated versions of some texts. I only sorted out the ones where I _know_ you have a newer version, though. You'll have to go through the rest yourself. Also, I found Charlie's dragon book collection.”

“Where is it?” Charlie asks, suddenly much more interested in the conversation.

“Sitting in a box on the bed in one of the bedrooms on the second floor.”

Bill turns to Tulip and Tonks. “How's the garden looking?”

“Well,” Tulip says, “there are a lot of gnomes left and a fuckton of weeds.”

“We're gonna be working on the garden all summer, most likely,” Tonks adds. “We should probably put it aside for now and focus on the house.”

“Noted,” he says. “You two can help with the item sorting then. Penny, did you find anything of note?”

“Well, no...” she hesitates. “I mean, all the kitchen supplies seem to be fine. You'll need to wash them since they've been collecting dust, but otherwise alright.”

“Why the look on your face, then?”

“... The clock.”

Bill's face drops and he sets his sandwich down. “I forgot about that.”

“I think we'll need to, uh, take your parents' hands off of it. They're a bit... distracting. By which I mean they won't stop moving... I guess since they don't have any location in particular they can land on.” She mutters the last bit and stares down at the table.

“Right... I guess... We'll do that.”

The table falls silent. After a few minutes, Liz awkwardly turns to Charlie and asks a random question about dragons which launches a technically-table-wide (but really is mostly just Charlie) conversation on dragons.

* * *

As Penny washes dishes and Liz dries them and puts them away, Nora, Barnaby, Bill, Rowan, Tulip, and Tonks return to cleaning the house. Charlie disappears outside again, for reasons known only to him. Nora has to hide several prank supplies they had found stored in the twins' room before the latter two can get find them.

As Barnaby, physically the strongest, moves boxes where he is told to, Bill and Rowan continue on the book collection, sorting them into a number of piles based on whether or not they should keep them and what purpose they serve. Meanwhile, Nora starts figuring out where they're going to take everything that needs to be sold to secondhand and pawn shops while Tulip and Tonks open random closets and inspect the contents.

“Hey, does anyone know how to knit?” Tulip asks as she peers into a box.

“I think Charlie learned how to, at least a little,” Tonks replies. “Why?”

“Found their mum's yarn.”

“Ah.”

“Also quilts. I found quilts. A lot of quilts.”

“Well, we know we can use those.”

Out in one of the stairwells, Nora was directing Barnaby to take all the old supplies down to the living room, to make it easier to gather them up when it was time to take a trip to Diagon Alley. While he carries boxes, she has a quill and parchment to make notes

“We'll need to get Floo powder... And groceries, of course. I guess with all we'll be selling off, we'll add a decent little bit to the vault... Wonder how long it'll last since we'll need to buy school supplies for four people, though...”

Barnaby stops beside her, a box in his arms. “You know, the way you talk, it sounds a lot like you think you're one of them.”

“What?”

“I just... you talk like you're one of the Weasleys...” He pauses. “ _Are_ you a Weasley?”

“Do I _look_ like I'm a Weasley?”

Confusion shows on his face. “I... don't think so?”

“Well, do I have red hair?”

“No. Wait... Tulip has red hair...”

“Barnaby, she _dyes_ it. She's not a Weasley. Neither am I.”

“Then why do you always talk like you're one of them?”

“I _don't._ ”

“Yeah, you do. The way you talk about taking care of their siblings is a lot like how Bill and Charlie talk. Like you expect to be stuck doing this your whole life.”

“I'm not just abandoning them! You sound like Rowan, now.”

“That's nice. Rowan's smart. I hope I sound like Rowan.”

Nora stares at him with a blank look on her face. “Could you finish taking that downstairs now?”

“Oh. Right.”

As Barnaby sets off down the stairs, Nora turns around to find herself face-to-face with The Terrible Two (as she'd privately taken to calling them earlier in the year).

“He's right, you know,” Tulip says.

“Sweet Merlin, is everyone gonna lecture me on this?”

Tonks shakes her head and holds her hands up in surrender. “I'm staying out of it.”

“Can you tell your girlfriend to stay out it?”

Tulip raises an eyebrow. “I'm not telling you that you shouldn't do what you want. I just think you're sometimes way too nosey for your own good. I'm not sure Bill and Charlie would really appreciate you throwing yourself too deep into this. You can't solve all the world's problems on your own.”

“I can fucking try.”

“And you'll burn yourself out in the process.”

“You don't have to help.”

“No, I do. I promised to help, but you're my friend as well. The first friend I made after I stopped being friends with Merula. That means I have to help you, too.”

Nora frowns. “You all act like I'm crazy for being willing to take any necessary steps to make sure that bunch of kids are gonna get a better lot in life than what Bill and Charlie have been stuck with.”

“You don't have to get stuck with them.”

“I'm not-”

“Babe,” Tonks interrupts, putting a hand on Tulip's shoulder. “Leave it. Let's just go back to cleaning. We can have this conversation literally any other day.”

Tulip darts her eyes away. “Okay.”

* * *

It was dark by the time they set everything down and gathered around the table again.

“Kitchen's clean enough to use,” Penny reports. “Might wanna do a more thorough cleaning later, but it'll work for now.”

“Bedrooms are fine,” Nora adds. “And I think we've gotten out everything that you don't need to keep.”

“Garden's still a disaster but we already knew that,” Tonks says. “I think we've managed to get everything together. At least well enough that you can start planning to move. Might be a few more things to handle before you bring the kids over but we can take care of it while they're getting ready to move back in.”

“Thanks for your help, everyone,” Bill says. “I mean it.”

“You can call on us anytime,” Liz says with a grin. “For anything. Seriously. And let me know if you decide you wanna fix that car up. I'm sure we can puzzle it out together.”

“Now what?” Barnaby asks. “I'm hungry.”

Approximately half the group rolls their eyes.

“Alright, I guess we should get going,” Nora says. “Wouldn't wanna make the big man wait any longer for dinner.”

The group laughs as they finally make their way out the door to head home.

As the others, Bill puts his hand on Nora's shoulder. “I really am thankful. For everything you and the others have done for us.”

“I'm just doing what I need to. I hope you would do the same if I were in a similar situation.”

“I don't think I could bring myself to go as far as I think you're willing to.”

“Well, no. Probably not but that doesn't matter. I do what I can and you'd do what you could. Just... I'll always be here for you. For any of you.”

Bill smiles. “I know.”

“ _Are you two making out or something? Get out here!”_ Tonks yells from outside.

“We should go,” Nora says, blushing.

“Yeah, we should,” he agrees.

“Come on, then. Barnaby's not the only one getting hungry.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> no this isn't going to be bill/nora


End file.
